Delta’s Angel at the Gate

We hear so much in the media about when airlines and flight crews do something wrong – but this is a tale of when one of these airlines did something right.

Back in August, my friend Christine and I were preparing to leave Atlanta, Georgia for a 10-day vacation in Lisbon Portugal.

We discovered as we were going though TSA pre-check, however, that Christine had accidentally brought her expired passport. We immediately called a friend to go retrieve the correct one and bring it to the airport, but there was little hope that they would make it there in time, during Atlanta rush hour traffic.

I waited as long as possible before going through security and to the gate. I decided to ask the gate agent what time the flight officially closed. She told me and then asked me why. I explained the predicament we were in and asked about later flights for my friend. She was sympathetic and looked for other departures, but there was nothing available after the expected passport arrival time that would allow her to make the connection at JFK to Lisbon.

To my delight, I had been upgraded to Delta Comfort and settled into my seat as I texted to find out the status of the passport. A little while later an employee approached me about switching seats and said to gather my things. It turns out there was a couple who had paid for their upgrade and there was a TV monitor missing from the wife’s seat. I was hoping to just sleep for the overnight flight, so was happy to take the missing-monitor seat.

I was starting to think our whole trip seemed doomed, until, few minutes later, the employee came back and said “Aren’t you the one who spoke to me about your friend waiting for her passport?” I said, yes, and realized it was the same gate agent who I had spoken to before. She said, “Call her and find out where she is, we are being delayed due to the missing monitor. I will do all I can to get her on the plane.”

Christine called me back when she had her valid passport in hand and I went to the front of the plane to get the gate agent. What seemed like an eternity later, Christine was on the plane!

The gate agent mentioned there were some seats in the back where we could sit together and followed us back, since people had already begun to move around, and waited until we were seated. We were so grateful for her caring so much to help. Then, to top things off, she came back a few minutes later and told us she was able to get Christine’s bag on the plane too!

Once we got over our shock of how lucky we were I grabbed Christine and went to take a photo with Delta angel Janira Ricketts, the person who made it all possible for us.

We were truly blessed that day to have her as our gate agent.

Fly This Story Over To Your Friends By Sharing To Social Media – Photo by Adriana Cadavid